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When Bob Met Woody: The Story of the Young Bob Dylan    by Gary Golio & Marc Burckhardt Amazon.com order for
When Bob Met Woody
by Gary Golio
Order:  USA  Can
Little, Brown & Co., 2011 (2011)
Hardcover
* * *   Reviewed by Lyn Seippel

Bob Dylan, born Bob Zimmerman, knew he wanted to be a musician from the age of four when he sang at his grandmother's birthday party. Bob taught himself to play piano and guitar, listened to all types of music, and read poetry.

His parents didn't think much of his idea of becoming a musician. They wanted him to be an engineer. He started college in Minneapolis. While he went to classes, he spent most of his time in a coffee house, where he listened to folk music. He also played his own music. One day, before he went on stage, he was asked how he wanted to be introduced. He gave his name as Bob Dylan. He changed his name to Bob Dylan after his favorite poet, Dylan Thomas.

While in Minneapolis he discovered the music of Woody Guthrie. He knew he wanted to write songs like Woody. Songs that make people think and feel things. When he heard his idol was sick, he hitchhiked to New York to visit him in the hospital. Meeting Woody was the high point of his life until then.

Sprinkling the book with Dylan quotes throughout, Golio writes about a boy with determination and love for music and Woody Guthrie.

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